BYU defends the belt, 28–25, at a neutral site over Wyoming.
AP poll, week 17: Wyoming No. 22 at BYU No. 5 · No. 1 that week: Army. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
BYU came in 49 days into reign #246, which began with a win over Tulsa, with 5 defenses already behind it; this was its 6th defense. BYU went on to defend it 1 more time before Washington took it on September 6, 1997, 322 days after the reign began.
For Wyoming this was its 3rd shot at the belt; it had held the belt once before.
This is the only time BYU and Wyoming have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
BYU defeated Wyoming 28-25 on December 7, 1996 in a postseason matchup played at a neutral site. As the belt's defending holder, BYU retained the championship with the victory.
Written by Claude, strictly from this site’s own record of the game — the score and what it meant for the belt. CFBD doesn’t have a box score for games this old, so nothing here is invented beyond what’s verifiably on file.
Sources Game record: College Football Data (id 61021) · This game in the downloadable dataset